Barely a ripple on Vancouver Island as weather advisory cancelled

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Sections of the B.C. coast recorded up to one-metre waves and minor flooding but no significant damage from a tsunami generated by Japan's 8.9 magnitude earthquake Friday.

By the time the tsunami — a 10-metre-wall of water sweeping up cars, buildings and houses in Japan — travelled 6,800 kilometres, at the speed of a jetliner, across the Pacific Ocean to Vancouver Island's west coast, it caused barely a ripple.

A tsunami advisory from B.C.'s Provincial Emergency Program went out at 1:50 a.m. warning communities on the Haida Gwaii Islands, the central coast including Bella Bella, and Vancouver Island's west coast from Cape Scott to Port Renfrew.

The advisory told communities to evacuate marinas, beaches and other areas below the high-tide mark. Because of strong surges in waters off Port Alberni, the advisory was in effect until shortly before 7 p.m. Friday.

Evacuations occurred at some First Nations reserves, the entire community of Port Renfrew and Pacific Rim National Park. All schools were closed in the Tofino-Ucluelet area.

Residents of Port Renfrew awoke early Friday to the insistent blast of a tsunami-warning siren. Many of the 300 residents then evacuated to higher ground.

"The community responded wonderfully and the emergency services handled it very professionally," said Rose Betsworth, chamber of commerce president. "I sure feel comfortable if we ever have to go through it for real."

At the Huu-ay-aht First Nation community of Anacla, 12 kilometres from Bamfield, about 130 residents evacuated from their water-level homes to the House of Huu-ay-aht, the community hall on a hill above the village, said spokesman Brent Ronning.

"We don't have all the facts yet, but we heard the water surge came right up to the band office and there has been some flooding and now the tide has gone way out," he said.

In Victoria and Nanaimo police stations were inundated with calls from citizens concerned for their safety

Chris Duffy, executive director of emergency co-ordination for the B.C. Provincial Emergency Program, hunkered down in his office throughout the night anxiously waiting for whatever was to roll onto B.C.'s coastline.

Duffy first received news of the earthquake just before 10 p.m. Thursday. "There's always anxiety with activation for an event like this," Duffy said.

No inundation waves were forecast, given the distance and alignment of the coastal shoreline and other factors.

But flooding was a possibility, along with hazards for boaters, swimmers, and surfers.

"The waves come in a series and potentially dangerous waves can come in after the initial arrival time," Duffy said.

The first wave generated by Japan's earthquake was forecast to hit Langara Island, in the Haida Gwaii, formerly known as the Queen Charlottes, about 5:30 a.m. At 6:12 a.m. an Institute of Ocean Sciences member noted there was a small surge but no measurement to report. That's about eight hours after Japan's earthquake. A flight from Tokyo to Vancouver takes about 10 hours.

Tsunami waves typically travel at 600 km/h, said Christopher Barnes, professor emeritus at the University of Victoria and project director for the Neptune Canada ocean exploration project.

By 7:05 a.m. the first discernible wave rolled in at 0.40 metres hitting Winter Harbour, the northern tip of Vancouver Island. By 7:52 a.m., in the same location, a 1.0- to 1.3-metre wave hit.

Travelling easterly, at 8:30 a.m. a wave of 0.6 metres rolled in off Port Alberni

At 8:55 a.m. there were reports of a 0.9 to 1.0 metre wave hitting Tofino.

Vancouver Island's west coast was lucky there was an ebbing tide, when the tsunami hit, rather than a high tide, said Barnes. "If it happened to hit during a high tide then the addition of a metre would be significant . . . it could have a pretty serious effect," Barnes said.

Three Neptune bottom-pressure recorders on the sea floor recorded the first wave 250 kilometres off shore at 6:35 a.m.

The recorders measure the height of water on top of them caused by tides or tsunamis.

A recorder at Abyssal plain, at a depth of 2,660 metres, detected the tsunami at 6:35 a.m. at a height of about 25 centimetres.

The surge was detected seven minutes later at the continental slope, with a recorder at a depth of 1,250 metres. By the time it came to Folger Pass, at the mouth of Barkley Sound near Bamfield, the tsunami wave was at 40 centimetres.

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